Broader Impacts
Science should impact our world. Our team is dedicated to making a broad impact via mentorship, equity and inclusion, and science outreach, engagement, and education.
The Legacy of Megaherbivores
A Documentary Film
The Legacy of Megaherbivores, will ‘follow’ the life and death of an elephant in the African savanna, explaining their effect on ecosystem function, and include footage of elephants of different life stages and elephant megacarcasses of increasing age. The life cycle of these megaherbivores will be put into broader ecological context, understanding how megaherbivores impact ecosystems and the current implications for ecosystems facing their disappearance. We hope to engage a broad audience, and facilitate both increased interest in STEM as well as knowledge about ecosystems processes and the ecology or megacarcasses.
Educational Materials
We plan recruit graduate and undergraduate to co-develop multiple open-access educational products. Theory of Action for Broader Impact plan. Graduate students will lead the co-design and production of 2 university-level lectures based on their respective research themes. Undergraduate intern teams will lead the co-design and production of 2 educational children’s videos. Intern teams will be responsible for identify gaps in available educational material within their selected age-range and selecting a target audience. University-level lectures being submitted for peer-review
and publication by established online repositories (e.g., Case Studies in the Environment), and children’s videos
will be submitted to accredited repositories (e.g., Teachertube.com, YouTube EDU).
Community Outreach
With our collaborators within South African National Parks and the South African Environmental Observation Network, we plan multiple outreach and engagement activities within the local communities surrounding Kruger National Park. This includes speaking with and presenting to local schools, participating in local science events, and giving university level lectures. We will also create educational and outreach material that can be provided to park visitors.
